A widespread network outage from Rogers Communications Inc. on Friday left many Canadian customers without mobile and internet service and caused problems for police, courthouses, passport offices and other facilities.
A notice on the Toronto-based telecommunications company’s website said the outage is affecting both wireless and home service customers and is also affecting phone and chat support.
“Our technical teams are working hard to restore services as quickly as possible,” Rogers spokesman Zack Carreiro said in an email.
The outages disrupted services at retailers, courthouses, airlines, train networks, credit card processors and police forces, forcing many to delay business transactions, or even serve customers via analog means. That even in coffee shops where they could get Wi-Fi.
Toronto’s Go Transit said in a tweet that parts of its system have been affected by the outage and fares cannot be purchased with debit or credit cards. E-tickets may also be unavailable, it warned.
Among the most severe effects were warnings from police in Toronto and Ottawa, who reported connection problems when Canadians called 911.
“If your call fails, please try again, or call from a landline or cellphone with another provider,” Ottawa Police said on Twitter.
The Scarborough Health Network, which operates three hospitals and eight satellite sites in Toronto, urged physicians and staff to visit their workplaces for any changes, until the disruption is resolved. They are about to be on-call.
In Quebec, some court cases were hampered. Peter Nygaard’s Montreal court appearance on sex-related charges was put on hold because the Toronto jailed fashion mogul couldn’t connect to the video conference. His bail hearing will now take place next week.
Service Canada tweeted that it was also affected by the outage with call centers and offices, including those that issued passports, affected.
The outage stands to increase passport delays, which have long left Canadians lined up outside Service Canada offices as the government works through a backlog.
Several retailers and businesses were also facing trouble trying to accept payments as Interac, which processes electronic financial transactions, said its online and checkout debit offerings and e-transfer services were affected.
As a result, the Confederation Bridge, which connects the provinces of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, was unable to accept debits on Friday morning. Canada’s Wonderland in Vaughan, Ont. Said amusement park goers can only pay by credit card. They were told on Facebook that they should be able to use the e-ticket on their phone or bring a printed ticket to the park if they arrive on Friday.
DownDetector, a website that tracks outages, showed that people began reporting problems with Rogers’ service at 4:30 a.m. EDT and 20,000 reports had been logged by 7 a.m. EDT.
The three major carriers in the country’s telecommunications sector – Rogers, BCE Inc. and Telus Corp — dominated by and their grip on the industry has long been a concern for academics, who have called on regulators to increase competition for mobile and Internet services in Canada. ,
“This is highlighting the general lack of competition in telecommunications in Canada,” said Vas Bednar, executive director of McMaster University’s Master of Public Policy program.
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed.